Hey everyone, yesterday was a very busy day. I had a felony arrest involving a gun being pulled on a family that took up most of my day, but I have a story I think you'll all enjoy.
I responded to a fire at an apartment complex. Apparently two young boys set a mop on fire near an apartment building. The fire department responded quickly and put the fire out without any major incident. A bunch of witnesses identified the boys and the mother quickly came out to see what was up.
The mother immediately went off on her sons when she found out they were involved. She started yelling and it went something like this:
"I know I didn't raise no ghetto hood boys that cause trouble. I work too damn hard raising six boys just for you to risk us losing our home and the homes of all these hard working people that work hard for their stuff. I will whoop your ass in front of all these firefighters and polices [sic]. I don't care. You got a brother going to Howard University and you can't be acting like a hoodlum with all these kids that don't have no mothers and fathers. Especially cuz all the fathers aren't around. I was in a fire when I was younger and I know about fires. I had to take bedsheets and tie them together to jump out the window of a second floor. I still got the burn to prove it."
She then bends over and shows me, the firefighter, and her kids, a large burn on her lower back.
"Thank you officer. I know you won't have no problems with my kids." and she walks away.
I pretty much just stood there and watched her while she went on her rant. At least there's a mom out there that cares.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
Busy week With the Trainee
Hey everyone, I'm still adjusting to this 8 hour schedule. I've been getting out roughly the same time as when I was on ten hour shifts due to late calls....So I figured I'd save everything for a week long entry today. I got a chance to train my second rookie officer this week as his regular Field Training Officer just had his first baby (many congrats to him through fatherhood). This rookie has a good head on his shoulders and he's definitely a fast learner. I think I only really had two negative things he did the entire week which I pointed out to him.
We two officer help calls this week on Monday. We treat officer helps calls very similarly to officer down situations. They have the highest urgency possible. One officer was in another zone of the city responding to a dispute in an apartment complex parking lot when all off a sudden a large crowd of people started getting upset with the way the call was being handled and started to encircle the officer near his car. With everything going on lately in the news you can only imagine how easily the situation could have went differently. Thankfully numerous units responded to him in a timely manner and anything which was about to have happened was prevented.
The second officer help call deals with a stupid criminal. An officer put up a help call in a different zone after someone tried to kick in the door to his home. He was quickly met by both officers which lived at the residence and swiftly taken into custody. Can't make up the dumb things some people do....
On Tuesday, I was driving around on me beat and noticed looked at the busiest intersection ahead of me. The car in the turn lane was just sitting there with a green turn arrow and when the arrow turned off the light turned red. The vehicle then CLEARLY ran the red light. I turned on my blue lights and caught up to the driver. He stated he knew exactly what I was pulling him over for. I asked him why he ran the red light and he told me "We'll I wasn't sure that I ran it or not because to be honest, I wasn't even looking at the light. I just figured that's what it was." After asking him why he wasn't looking at the light he told me he was too busy looking at the crosswalk because of someone he thought was going to cross and then just kept going right through the intersection. When you're driving you have to be paying attention to everything out there. That easily could have been a head on collision and he definitely got a ticket.
Wednesday saw my trainee and I respond to a stalled vehicle on major interstate. Traffic was completely shut down due to an accident that the state patrol was handling. It was a great learning lesson for the rookie in how people really freak out with blue lights and have NO idea how to act at time. My note to you all: When you see blue lights or any emergency lights, PLEASE move to the right and allow us to get through. It seems fire and ambulances never have trouble getting through but we always do. I just don't get it. We were coming down a ramp to get onto the highway and nobody wanted to move. I had to get on the loudspeaker and tell a driver "Driver, please move to the right so that I can get through." All while my lights and siren were completely activated. If the road hazard had been an accident with injuries every second of me not being on scene could make a difference in the outcome for the injured person.
Yesterday we responded to another road hazard on the highway. A large truck transporting scrap metal failed to secure its load and it spread all over the highway. We were pretty much there for visibility as the Department of Transportation was on the highway picking up scrap metal. While we were out there, I pointed out one of my biggest pet peeves to the rookie. People failing to move over when they see emergency lights and people with traffic vests (which is against the law in my state and in most states). We initiated a traffic stop on a black car that had NO cars in the left lane and still did not move over or significantly reduce speed. It was the rookie's first traffic stop on the highway and he did a good job. Ultimately I left whether the driver would get a ticket or not up to him and he decided against it. For me that's usually one ticket that I never give a warning for. As police officers, we are more likely to be killed by vehicle related matters and unfortunately, a lot , by drivers failing to move over on the highway. The first line of duty death for 2015 was an police sergeant struck and killed on the highway working an accident.
Well I leave you all, as I begin my two day weekend (still not used to it). Tonight is the annual Mayor's Cup between the Police Department (three year in a row champs) and the Fire Department/Paramedics. Two of my academy classmates will be boxing tonight and it should be a good show.
We two officer help calls this week on Monday. We treat officer helps calls very similarly to officer down situations. They have the highest urgency possible. One officer was in another zone of the city responding to a dispute in an apartment complex parking lot when all off a sudden a large crowd of people started getting upset with the way the call was being handled and started to encircle the officer near his car. With everything going on lately in the news you can only imagine how easily the situation could have went differently. Thankfully numerous units responded to him in a timely manner and anything which was about to have happened was prevented.
The second officer help call deals with a stupid criminal. An officer put up a help call in a different zone after someone tried to kick in the door to his home. He was quickly met by both officers which lived at the residence and swiftly taken into custody. Can't make up the dumb things some people do....
On Tuesday, I was driving around on me beat and noticed looked at the busiest intersection ahead of me. The car in the turn lane was just sitting there with a green turn arrow and when the arrow turned off the light turned red. The vehicle then CLEARLY ran the red light. I turned on my blue lights and caught up to the driver. He stated he knew exactly what I was pulling him over for. I asked him why he ran the red light and he told me "We'll I wasn't sure that I ran it or not because to be honest, I wasn't even looking at the light. I just figured that's what it was." After asking him why he wasn't looking at the light he told me he was too busy looking at the crosswalk because of someone he thought was going to cross and then just kept going right through the intersection. When you're driving you have to be paying attention to everything out there. That easily could have been a head on collision and he definitely got a ticket.
Wednesday saw my trainee and I respond to a stalled vehicle on major interstate. Traffic was completely shut down due to an accident that the state patrol was handling. It was a great learning lesson for the rookie in how people really freak out with blue lights and have NO idea how to act at time. My note to you all: When you see blue lights or any emergency lights, PLEASE move to the right and allow us to get through. It seems fire and ambulances never have trouble getting through but we always do. I just don't get it. We were coming down a ramp to get onto the highway and nobody wanted to move. I had to get on the loudspeaker and tell a driver "Driver, please move to the right so that I can get through." All while my lights and siren were completely activated. If the road hazard had been an accident with injuries every second of me not being on scene could make a difference in the outcome for the injured person.
Yesterday we responded to another road hazard on the highway. A large truck transporting scrap metal failed to secure its load and it spread all over the highway. We were pretty much there for visibility as the Department of Transportation was on the highway picking up scrap metal. While we were out there, I pointed out one of my biggest pet peeves to the rookie. People failing to move over when they see emergency lights and people with traffic vests (which is against the law in my state and in most states). We initiated a traffic stop on a black car that had NO cars in the left lane and still did not move over or significantly reduce speed. It was the rookie's first traffic stop on the highway and he did a good job. Ultimately I left whether the driver would get a ticket or not up to him and he decided against it. For me that's usually one ticket that I never give a warning for. As police officers, we are more likely to be killed by vehicle related matters and unfortunately, a lot , by drivers failing to move over on the highway. The first line of duty death for 2015 was an police sergeant struck and killed on the highway working an accident.
Well I leave you all, as I begin my two day weekend (still not used to it). Tonight is the annual Mayor's Cup between the Police Department (three year in a row champs) and the Fire Department/Paramedics. Two of my academy classmates will be boxing tonight and it should be a good show.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Bad Timing
Hey all, sorry for not having been up to date lately. Switching shift times this week really threw myself and my fellow officers off schedule.
This story is about a day earlier this week on Wednesday thought saw our first homicide in my zone and the second for our city.
I was on a traffic stop in which I had just arrested a driver for driving with a suspended license and expired license of 8 years. The man had no clue as to why I couldn't write him a ticket as opposed to taking him to jail for driving. I raised my supervisor on a secondary channel to have the male listen in her as she confirmed what I told him that he had to go to jail in this situation. As I was wrapping talking to her a partner in my squad told her we just had a stabbing call. The remarks stated a group of males were in a fight and at least three had been stabbed.
At this point I felt really bad that I had my person in custody and was en route to the precinct. When a call like this pops up, you really want to be there to help people out. The following story account comes from fellow officers on scene.
The first arriving officers found a male, 27 years old on the ground near an apartment. In the words of some officers it was the most graphic scene they had been on due to the amount of blood. The male was stabbed in the back and according to them it was if he had been "drained out". Without going into too many sensitive details, i'll just say this. No life should be killed for no reason at all but this just irks you as to what happened.
The man had a 12 year old kid. The kid had asthma. The male didn't live in the apartment he was visiting but apparently it belonged to family. Some people decided to smoke inside of the apartment and he asked them not to because of his daughter. The man got into an argument with the males and a fight erupted which ended with him being stabbed one time in the back. Apparently the daughter witnessed what happened. This job doesn't always have its glorious moments and this clearly was not one of them.
Some things are witnessed by officers that may not be easily forgotten. I've seen my fair share of dead bodies that I won't forget. Thankfully for me, I can honestly say I am not troubled by them but I know not every officer feels that same way. We as officers see life's cruelest moments, yet day after day we return to help the communities we swore to protect.
This story is about a day earlier this week on Wednesday thought saw our first homicide in my zone and the second for our city.
I was on a traffic stop in which I had just arrested a driver for driving with a suspended license and expired license of 8 years. The man had no clue as to why I couldn't write him a ticket as opposed to taking him to jail for driving. I raised my supervisor on a secondary channel to have the male listen in her as she confirmed what I told him that he had to go to jail in this situation. As I was wrapping talking to her a partner in my squad told her we just had a stabbing call. The remarks stated a group of males were in a fight and at least three had been stabbed.
At this point I felt really bad that I had my person in custody and was en route to the precinct. When a call like this pops up, you really want to be there to help people out. The following story account comes from fellow officers on scene.
The first arriving officers found a male, 27 years old on the ground near an apartment. In the words of some officers it was the most graphic scene they had been on due to the amount of blood. The male was stabbed in the back and according to them it was if he had been "drained out". Without going into too many sensitive details, i'll just say this. No life should be killed for no reason at all but this just irks you as to what happened.
The man had a 12 year old kid. The kid had asthma. The male didn't live in the apartment he was visiting but apparently it belonged to family. Some people decided to smoke inside of the apartment and he asked them not to because of his daughter. The man got into an argument with the males and a fight erupted which ended with him being stabbed one time in the back. Apparently the daughter witnessed what happened. This job doesn't always have its glorious moments and this clearly was not one of them.
Some things are witnessed by officers that may not be easily forgotten. I've seen my fair share of dead bodies that I won't forget. Thankfully for me, I can honestly say I am not troubled by them but I know not every officer feels that same way. We as officers see life's cruelest moments, yet day after day we return to help the communities we swore to protect.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Scatterbrains and Responsibilities
Hey everyone, its been a very busy rough last couple days so this will be a combination of the last two days at work. I'm not sure if I previously wrote about a regular person we deal with in my zone. There was a lady who was in her mid sixties and seemingly always intoxicated who always walked in the middle of the road and had been hit by a lot of cars. Sadly, yesterday she struck by her final car. She was a fixture in the northern half of our zone and as much as we didn't like dealing with her, it'll be sad to see her gone.
Two days ago was pretty slow. Just when I thought I was going to get out of work on time, I got a call at a grocery store on my beat. This guy who I run into frequently who sells items on online for a living was shopping for food with his girlfriend and left his expensive iPad at the register and went home and didn't realize it was gone until he got home about twenty minutes later. If it was me with a tablet, that thing would be attached to my hip. I probably wouldn't even bring it into a grocery store with me, but that's just me. The guy was so adamant that somebody stole the tablet-which they probably did but people immediately assume nowadays that if something is missing it MUST be stolen. We see it all the time but we have to classify it as "lost property" if nobody was witnessed taking it.
Yesterday, in my (almost) three years of policing, I encountered my first day that I didn't feel like being here at some point. I hadn't had a chance to eat my meal since I had a call to go to and eventually got an extremely bad headache. I tried to get coffee to keep me alert later in the day and received a call with a former WNBA player that held me late after work.
Earlier in the day I got my 207th arrest. I pulled over a vehicle for a brake light out and observed two males inside. I got ID from both and found the passenger had a warrant for a probation violation in a state two states away. I detained the male after getting backup and surprisingly the other state was willing to extradite him. The warrant was five years old. It's amazing sometimes how the little things will catch you up. I was talking to the male while he was in my backseat and he told me he used to sell drugs and got shot and then turned his life around. He now owns a successful painting business and even did a job for Shaq. He told me that he wasn't upset at all that this happened to him. He told me he had grown into an adult since his troubled past and told me being an adult is all about facing consequences (a phrase I often use a lot). He told me he understood exactly that I was doing a job and harbored no ill will toward myself for the situation. If only more people felt that way out here. Nothing I do or my fellow officers do is personal. We're just doing a job like anybody else. Ours is just different.
Two days ago was pretty slow. Just when I thought I was going to get out of work on time, I got a call at a grocery store on my beat. This guy who I run into frequently who sells items on online for a living was shopping for food with his girlfriend and left his expensive iPad at the register and went home and didn't realize it was gone until he got home about twenty minutes later. If it was me with a tablet, that thing would be attached to my hip. I probably wouldn't even bring it into a grocery store with me, but that's just me. The guy was so adamant that somebody stole the tablet-which they probably did but people immediately assume nowadays that if something is missing it MUST be stolen. We see it all the time but we have to classify it as "lost property" if nobody was witnessed taking it.
Yesterday, in my (almost) three years of policing, I encountered my first day that I didn't feel like being here at some point. I hadn't had a chance to eat my meal since I had a call to go to and eventually got an extremely bad headache. I tried to get coffee to keep me alert later in the day and received a call with a former WNBA player that held me late after work.
Earlier in the day I got my 207th arrest. I pulled over a vehicle for a brake light out and observed two males inside. I got ID from both and found the passenger had a warrant for a probation violation in a state two states away. I detained the male after getting backup and surprisingly the other state was willing to extradite him. The warrant was five years old. It's amazing sometimes how the little things will catch you up. I was talking to the male while he was in my backseat and he told me he used to sell drugs and got shot and then turned his life around. He now owns a successful painting business and even did a job for Shaq. He told me that he wasn't upset at all that this happened to him. He told me he had grown into an adult since his troubled past and told me being an adult is all about facing consequences (a phrase I often use a lot). He told me he understood exactly that I was doing a job and harbored no ill will toward myself for the situation. If only more people felt that way out here. Nothing I do or my fellow officers do is personal. We're just doing a job like anybody else. Ours is just different.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Barricaded Gunman
Hey everyone. I'm actually writing this at work since I got 4.5 hours late last night. In policing your scheduled work hours are more of...."guidelines". I slept until it was literally time to wake up and get dressed for day 2 of my new 5 day/48 hour work week.
The day started off rather simple like all Sundays tend to be. I had an interesting burglary of an apartment on my beat where two female roommates lived together. The roommate who called 911 moved almost all of her stuff out at the end of the college semester and was attempting to move her stuff back in when she noticed her door was damaged and there was no way to open it. I climbed onto her patio and managed to open the door from the inside. All of her lights inside were on, her fridge doors were wide open and food was spoiling, the house was ransacked, it was clearly a burglary.
None of the caller's items were missing since she had moved the majority of her items out over the break but the big TV in the living room and her roommate's laptop were gone. Her roommate however had more important things to do than be at the apartment (she was eating dinner) and this royally pissed off the caller. The caller however was looking at this as an opportunity to break her lease and convince her parents to let her live downtown near her college campus.
The night was going smooth but I was unusually drained so I went with a squad mate to a gas station just outside of our jurisdiction which has some of the best coffee around and it turned out to be a very wise decision.
About an hour after the coffee break we got a call of shots fired at a residence. The caller stated his stepfather in the residence was drunk and got into a dispute. It ended in the stepfather grabbing a gun and firing off a shot. The stepson and a few family members got out of the house safely but the caller's mom was still asleep in the residence with the stepfather. The stepfather in addition was a military vet with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Due to the nature of the incident we quickly set up a perimeter and waited to see if we needed to call out the SWAT team. I ran to the trunk of my vehicle and a guy asked me " Hey officer, did you hear that gunshot?". I ignored the guy, grabbed my shotgun and racked it. For those of you who have never heard the noise of a shotgun being racked-it gets your attention. The guy goes "Oh sh-t! I'm going back inside my house".
I joined a partner on the watch after me (since we overlap for a few hours until we move to the 8 hour shifts on Thursday). It was about a wind chill of 29 degrees as we sat in the woodline watching the southwest corner of this house for any sort of movement. 4.5 hours and we didn't see a thing. Eventually our sergeant gave the call: Call SWAT.
SWAT, the Night Commander, and hostage negotiation came out and did their thing. (for obvious purposes, I'm not going to go into the tactics used by SWAT but it truly is impressive to watch that unit in action. My department has a full time SWAT team and they train around the clock.)
As we waited for SWAT to make entry, I made the worst possible decision to joke about conditions. I told my coworker that I was really glad it hadn't rained yet. Police officers are as superstitious as baseball players. Soon after I made that remark-it started raining. We were now wet and cold.
Eventually SWAT drove their armored vehicle up on the yard and called out the barricaded gunman. First the mother who had been sleeping exited and was extremely curious as to what was going on. Then eventually the gunman came out. He was wearing a "wife-beater" and basketball shorts. SWAT gave him numerous verbal commands to take his hands out of his pockets. The man became upset stating he had no weapons and would even show us. This man then proceeded to take off his shorts and moon everybody. You can't make this stuff up. SWAT ordered him to get on the ground and crawl to them. The man yelled "I ain't crawling on the ground, it's too cold!". SWAT answered in the best way possible: " You're about to be a lot colder if you don't get on the ground!"
Eventually the man bear crawled to SWAT and they secured him before clearing the house and giving the all clear.
It's always great to have those situations end without incident. Well, let me get back to work. Be safe everyone!
The day started off rather simple like all Sundays tend to be. I had an interesting burglary of an apartment on my beat where two female roommates lived together. The roommate who called 911 moved almost all of her stuff out at the end of the college semester and was attempting to move her stuff back in when she noticed her door was damaged and there was no way to open it. I climbed onto her patio and managed to open the door from the inside. All of her lights inside were on, her fridge doors were wide open and food was spoiling, the house was ransacked, it was clearly a burglary.
None of the caller's items were missing since she had moved the majority of her items out over the break but the big TV in the living room and her roommate's laptop were gone. Her roommate however had more important things to do than be at the apartment (she was eating dinner) and this royally pissed off the caller. The caller however was looking at this as an opportunity to break her lease and convince her parents to let her live downtown near her college campus.
The night was going smooth but I was unusually drained so I went with a squad mate to a gas station just outside of our jurisdiction which has some of the best coffee around and it turned out to be a very wise decision.
About an hour after the coffee break we got a call of shots fired at a residence. The caller stated his stepfather in the residence was drunk and got into a dispute. It ended in the stepfather grabbing a gun and firing off a shot. The stepson and a few family members got out of the house safely but the caller's mom was still asleep in the residence with the stepfather. The stepfather in addition was a military vet with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Due to the nature of the incident we quickly set up a perimeter and waited to see if we needed to call out the SWAT team. I ran to the trunk of my vehicle and a guy asked me " Hey officer, did you hear that gunshot?". I ignored the guy, grabbed my shotgun and racked it. For those of you who have never heard the noise of a shotgun being racked-it gets your attention. The guy goes "Oh sh-t! I'm going back inside my house".
I joined a partner on the watch after me (since we overlap for a few hours until we move to the 8 hour shifts on Thursday). It was about a wind chill of 29 degrees as we sat in the woodline watching the southwest corner of this house for any sort of movement. 4.5 hours and we didn't see a thing. Eventually our sergeant gave the call: Call SWAT.
SWAT, the Night Commander, and hostage negotiation came out and did their thing. (for obvious purposes, I'm not going to go into the tactics used by SWAT but it truly is impressive to watch that unit in action. My department has a full time SWAT team and they train around the clock.)
As we waited for SWAT to make entry, I made the worst possible decision to joke about conditions. I told my coworker that I was really glad it hadn't rained yet. Police officers are as superstitious as baseball players. Soon after I made that remark-it started raining. We were now wet and cold.
Eventually SWAT drove their armored vehicle up on the yard and called out the barricaded gunman. First the mother who had been sleeping exited and was extremely curious as to what was going on. Then eventually the gunman came out. He was wearing a "wife-beater" and basketball shorts. SWAT gave him numerous verbal commands to take his hands out of his pockets. The man became upset stating he had no weapons and would even show us. This man then proceeded to take off his shorts and moon everybody. You can't make this stuff up. SWAT ordered him to get on the ground and crawl to them. The man yelled "I ain't crawling on the ground, it's too cold!". SWAT answered in the best way possible: " You're about to be a lot colder if you don't get on the ground!"
Eventually the man bear crawled to SWAT and they secured him before clearing the house and giving the all clear.
It's always great to have those situations end without incident. Well, let me get back to work. Be safe everyone!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Frozen Solid
Hope all is well and you're staying warm. Yesterday on my shift it was freezing cold. Literally. Our temperature got down to 24 degrees with a wind chill of -5 degrees. I was playing the role of Field Training Officer as the rookie's FTO was off enjoying his wife's birthday. The young guy was so excited since through his five weeks in field training I was the first one to let him drive the patrol car since he was sworn in (I remember that first thrill). Sadly there was not too much going on for this rookie's day.
This was the second time I had played FTO. The first time I ever trained someone it was the day of a lifetime. We had a school shooting and I ended up holding the hand of an 18 year old shot twice to the chest and keeping him conscious until the ambulance could arrive (the kid made it and later during an interview thanked me for keeping him alert and alive). The same day we responded to a active home invasion where we had JUST missed the robbers and entered a house feeling full well we were about to get into a shootout. After that first day of training someone-this day was the complete opposite.
We didn't get many calls and even sat down at a gas station to get some much needed coffee to stay warm. I opted for the layering method to my uniform and had about four layers of clothes on with department skullcap. I'll do anything I can to avoid wearing a jacket. If I need to reach for anything on my belt, including my gun, I don't want to run the risk of it getting caught. That fraction of a second can easily mean the difference between life and death.
The majority of our calls were domestic situations where people caught cabin fever and couldn't stand to be with whoever they lived with and were asking us to toss the said people from the house. The state where I work actually prohibits us from tossing out people who claim residency in the household (whether they are on a lease or not). As long as the person stays there for a reasonable amount of time (48 hours) or has possessions or mail at the address, the person wishing them to leave must actually file an eviction notice on the person to force them out. I think I explained that process about ten times yesterday to people.
Additionally we kept responding to a lot of house alarms more than likely triggered by the cold weather that all amounted to nothing.
En route to one of those aforementioned domestics, we noticed a broken down car on the side of the road on my beat that I told the rookie, if it was still there after the call we'd stop to help them out. After clearing the call, the vehicle was still in a turn lane with its hazard lights flashing. We stopped behind the vehicle and put our blue lights on at night to make sure nobody would come and run right into the back of this young lady and asked her what was wrong. It turn out she had a radiator leak to her vehicle and her father was coming with water to help get her at least to the house. At this point in time it was so cold that the water leaking from her radiator was freezing solid on the ground. An unbelievable sight. Eventually her father made it out and we helped him place water in the radiator and they kept on their way.
For a slow night with not much going on, we at least were able to do a good deed.
Well I'm going to try and enjoy my last 3-day weekend before we go to 8-hour shifts. I'll have to work a minimum of 48 hours next week since the transition falls on what would have been my off day.
This was the second time I had played FTO. The first time I ever trained someone it was the day of a lifetime. We had a school shooting and I ended up holding the hand of an 18 year old shot twice to the chest and keeping him conscious until the ambulance could arrive (the kid made it and later during an interview thanked me for keeping him alert and alive). The same day we responded to a active home invasion where we had JUST missed the robbers and entered a house feeling full well we were about to get into a shootout. After that first day of training someone-this day was the complete opposite.
We didn't get many calls and even sat down at a gas station to get some much needed coffee to stay warm. I opted for the layering method to my uniform and had about four layers of clothes on with department skullcap. I'll do anything I can to avoid wearing a jacket. If I need to reach for anything on my belt, including my gun, I don't want to run the risk of it getting caught. That fraction of a second can easily mean the difference between life and death.
The majority of our calls were domestic situations where people caught cabin fever and couldn't stand to be with whoever they lived with and were asking us to toss the said people from the house. The state where I work actually prohibits us from tossing out people who claim residency in the household (whether they are on a lease or not). As long as the person stays there for a reasonable amount of time (48 hours) or has possessions or mail at the address, the person wishing them to leave must actually file an eviction notice on the person to force them out. I think I explained that process about ten times yesterday to people.
Additionally we kept responding to a lot of house alarms more than likely triggered by the cold weather that all amounted to nothing.
En route to one of those aforementioned domestics, we noticed a broken down car on the side of the road on my beat that I told the rookie, if it was still there after the call we'd stop to help them out. After clearing the call, the vehicle was still in a turn lane with its hazard lights flashing. We stopped behind the vehicle and put our blue lights on at night to make sure nobody would come and run right into the back of this young lady and asked her what was wrong. It turn out she had a radiator leak to her vehicle and her father was coming with water to help get her at least to the house. At this point in time it was so cold that the water leaking from her radiator was freezing solid on the ground. An unbelievable sight. Eventually her father made it out and we helped him place water in the radiator and they kept on their way.
For a slow night with not much going on, we at least were able to do a good deed.
Well I'm going to try and enjoy my last 3-day weekend before we go to 8-hour shifts. I'll have to work a minimum of 48 hours next week since the transition falls on what would have been my off day.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Good Deeds and Bad Kids
Hey all, sorry I didn't get to write yesterday. It was one of those days where I got out of work late and then had to wake up extremely early for the gym. I have two stories of good news from Monday and then I'll go into my story from yesterday.
Monday was a very slow day (I have no idea idea why but we'll see what that means for my "Friday" today). I decided to do a lot of traffic and was looking for something. I posted up at my favorite traffic spot near a highway off-ramp where I run tags looking for wanted people or other vehicle issues. I ran a tag on a truck and found the vehicle to have no insurance. I started my stop and had everything I needed to impound the vehicle for no insurance. As long as I run the tag and confirm the no insurance hit, the law in my state says I can take the vehicle. However, I know there are always mistakes with computer so I spoke to the lady (who did not own the car). She told me her own car had been stolen a few days ago and a friend loaned her this truck but he takes very good care of his vehicles and the status. I went out of my way and called the insurance company (with a automated and hold process) and eventually confirmed the vehicle really did have insurance and there was a glitch in the system. Sometimes going the long way pays off in the end.
I ended up arresting someone for a warrant and I had to take him the county jail. It was close to the time I had to go home and I decided to post up outside of the jail to finish my arrest report. I was approached by a black male in sweatpants and sweatshirt with his hands up coming to my car ( I had no idea what to think). The male approaches me and tells me he's from a neighboring state and literally just got out of jail and had nowhere to go. It was freezing outside and I couldn't just leave him there. I called around to numerous homeless shelters and finally found one that would take the male. We took the long drive (already past the time for me to go home) and dropped him off. We had a very long talk about society, religion, the image of police, and the influence of hip hop on the younger generation (he stated he was an aspiring rapper). It was well worth staying late and I hoped I changed his image of police at least for a little bit.
Yesterday at work, time just seemed to really fly by (and I got out late due to a last minute felony-sidenote: I seem to be the person in my zone that if something crazy like that will happen near the end of the shift-it'll happen to me).
I handled a disorderly child call at a house on my beat. The caller was the grandmother who looks after her grandson because his mother was abusive and addicted to drugs. This grandmother does everything for her grandson. She cooks him elaborate meals and gets him into all these great school programs to ensure her grandson gets out of the neighborhood. Grandma is disabled and she does all of this without any assistance from the state or federal government. I went to his particular house about a year ago to talk to this kid when he was 11 about following grandma's rules and the important of them and what happens if he chooses not to do so. I sat down and had about a 45 minute conversation with him and really hoped it got to him.
Most recently he has been hanging out with his kid at school who lives in his neighborhood who is definitely a bad influence. Whenever he gets mad at his grandmother he goes to his room and climbs out a window knowing full well his grandmother can't go after him. The kid is 12 turning 13 soon. The next time he runs away he'll be placed as a runaway on the system. This kid told me the only reason he's rebelling against his grandmother is because he'd rather hang out with the bad influence neighborhood kids than go to the programs his grandmother has put him in to better himself. Times like that really hurt your hope for the future generations but you still have to press on and have faith. Well, I have to head out for my "Friday". We'll see how today goes.
Monday was a very slow day (I have no idea idea why but we'll see what that means for my "Friday" today). I decided to do a lot of traffic and was looking for something. I posted up at my favorite traffic spot near a highway off-ramp where I run tags looking for wanted people or other vehicle issues. I ran a tag on a truck and found the vehicle to have no insurance. I started my stop and had everything I needed to impound the vehicle for no insurance. As long as I run the tag and confirm the no insurance hit, the law in my state says I can take the vehicle. However, I know there are always mistakes with computer so I spoke to the lady (who did not own the car). She told me her own car had been stolen a few days ago and a friend loaned her this truck but he takes very good care of his vehicles and the status. I went out of my way and called the insurance company (with a automated and hold process) and eventually confirmed the vehicle really did have insurance and there was a glitch in the system. Sometimes going the long way pays off in the end.
I ended up arresting someone for a warrant and I had to take him the county jail. It was close to the time I had to go home and I decided to post up outside of the jail to finish my arrest report. I was approached by a black male in sweatpants and sweatshirt with his hands up coming to my car ( I had no idea what to think). The male approaches me and tells me he's from a neighboring state and literally just got out of jail and had nowhere to go. It was freezing outside and I couldn't just leave him there. I called around to numerous homeless shelters and finally found one that would take the male. We took the long drive (already past the time for me to go home) and dropped him off. We had a very long talk about society, religion, the image of police, and the influence of hip hop on the younger generation (he stated he was an aspiring rapper). It was well worth staying late and I hoped I changed his image of police at least for a little bit.
Yesterday at work, time just seemed to really fly by (and I got out late due to a last minute felony-sidenote: I seem to be the person in my zone that if something crazy like that will happen near the end of the shift-it'll happen to me).
I handled a disorderly child call at a house on my beat. The caller was the grandmother who looks after her grandson because his mother was abusive and addicted to drugs. This grandmother does everything for her grandson. She cooks him elaborate meals and gets him into all these great school programs to ensure her grandson gets out of the neighborhood. Grandma is disabled and she does all of this without any assistance from the state or federal government. I went to his particular house about a year ago to talk to this kid when he was 11 about following grandma's rules and the important of them and what happens if he chooses not to do so. I sat down and had about a 45 minute conversation with him and really hoped it got to him.
Most recently he has been hanging out with his kid at school who lives in his neighborhood who is definitely a bad influence. Whenever he gets mad at his grandmother he goes to his room and climbs out a window knowing full well his grandmother can't go after him. The kid is 12 turning 13 soon. The next time he runs away he'll be placed as a runaway on the system. This kid told me the only reason he's rebelling against his grandmother is because he'd rather hang out with the bad influence neighborhood kids than go to the programs his grandmother has put him in to better himself. Times like that really hurt your hope for the future generations but you still have to press on and have faith. Well, I have to head out for my "Friday". We'll see how today goes.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Large Hand Tossed Carjacking
Hey everyone, hope the New Year's went well for you. I'm back at work and working Sundays for the first time in about six months. I had so much extra time from staying late that I had to use it or lose it so I was working only three days a week but that fun period is over. In fact we'll be changing shifts per our brand new major to five days a week......So having four and three days off a week was nice while it lasted. The general consensus is that most people aren't happy with losing that extra day. You can't really worry about what you can't control though.
So I forgot just how slow Sunday's really were until I was honestly sitting bored for a few minutes. The rest of the work week is 100mph from start to finish so Sunday is nice depending on the type of week it has been. It's a good day for me to ease back into my work-week. However the day did not go smoothly for everyone.
I did get a felony arrest off a case where a guy shot a stolen gun at his mother (sadly for the type of case it was I can't share too much on here.) The irony was he was the one who called 911. Sometimes you can't fix stupid we like to say.
Elsewhere while I was dealing with that arrest we had a three year old child shot in the foot who was a walk-in at a local hospital outside of the city. The parents could not say exactly where the shooting happened at. First it was near a corner store and then it was at home. Generally from personal opinion, if I had my three year old child shot in the foot I would be calling 911 instead of driving many miles myself to a far away hospital when there was a closer one inside of the city. Typically this is what we in law enforcement call a "clue" that something was going on that wasn't supposed to be happening.
The real story of the day however comes from another pizza delivery carjacking (if you'll remember we had one on Christmas Eve-see "Christmas Eve on the Streets"). This poor pizza delivery driver was delivering a pizza to a complex about 10pm or so when 5-6 young black male teenagers wearing leather jackets carjacked the driver with handguns as they entered the complex. Once again it's the youth committing these crazy weapons offense crimes that put people's lives in jeopardy. Lately I feel the most dangerous job in the city is a pizza delivery driver when you have no clue that you're about to deliver pizza to a vacant apartment only to return to your vehicle and get robbed/carjacked.
We need change in the communities to really help change the youth. Better teachers with more influence, better programs that kids really want to attend. Something needs to change, otherwise we'll just have more encounters with the wayward armed youth who commits violent felonies. Just my personal opinion.
So I forgot just how slow Sunday's really were until I was honestly sitting bored for a few minutes. The rest of the work week is 100mph from start to finish so Sunday is nice depending on the type of week it has been. It's a good day for me to ease back into my work-week. However the day did not go smoothly for everyone.
I did get a felony arrest off a case where a guy shot a stolen gun at his mother (sadly for the type of case it was I can't share too much on here.) The irony was he was the one who called 911. Sometimes you can't fix stupid we like to say.
Elsewhere while I was dealing with that arrest we had a three year old child shot in the foot who was a walk-in at a local hospital outside of the city. The parents could not say exactly where the shooting happened at. First it was near a corner store and then it was at home. Generally from personal opinion, if I had my three year old child shot in the foot I would be calling 911 instead of driving many miles myself to a far away hospital when there was a closer one inside of the city. Typically this is what we in law enforcement call a "clue" that something was going on that wasn't supposed to be happening.
The real story of the day however comes from another pizza delivery carjacking (if you'll remember we had one on Christmas Eve-see "Christmas Eve on the Streets"). This poor pizza delivery driver was delivering a pizza to a complex about 10pm or so when 5-6 young black male teenagers wearing leather jackets carjacked the driver with handguns as they entered the complex. Once again it's the youth committing these crazy weapons offense crimes that put people's lives in jeopardy. Lately I feel the most dangerous job in the city is a pizza delivery driver when you have no clue that you're about to deliver pizza to a vacant apartment only to return to your vehicle and get robbed/carjacked.
We need change in the communities to really help change the youth. Better teachers with more influence, better programs that kids really want to attend. Something needs to change, otherwise we'll just have more encounters with the wayward armed youth who commits violent felonies. Just my personal opinion.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Shots Fired
Hey everyone, I hope the New Year celebrations were good for you. Just as expected, it was gunshots all night for me. Last year it seemed like the gunshots were going from the start of shift all the way until I was home. Yesterday they started roughly about 545pm local time and went until I got home.
I made it a point to try and not let a nearby officer go to a call alone if I couldn't help it. I'll be honest in the fact that every time I answered a shots fired call in a large apartment complex I had my service weapon unholstered, my seatbelt off, and the windows down. Ready to act at a moment's notice.
I never will understand the concept of celebratory gunfire. Everything that goes up must come down. A bullet coming down will come down with enough force to be comparable as if fired normally at a target. (side note: just after I got off work an elderly lady sitting in her living room was struck by a falling bullet which fell through her ceiling-thankfully just a shot to her leg but horrible nonetheless).
With all of the shots fired and fireworks calls coming in, a lot of house alarms were going off. My beat partner and I answered a high priority panic alarm call at a residence. We get there and everything seems very normal. Car in the driveway, lights on in the house, no shouting or anything which may bring alarm. We ring the doorbell and knock on the door and nonchalantly the resident's daughter states her mother's boyfriend accidentally hit the panic alarm button and he walks down the stairs just casually brushing his teeth. We normally get canceled for false alarms before we get to the houses. This would have been one to have been canceled so we could have attended to greater things.
Now as I've said before the zone where I work in divided into the North and South sectors handled by two difference squads. The north sector had a particularly horrible tragedy they dealt with. A lady was driving home from church when a man jaywalking crossed the street and she could not brake in time. The man was clearly dead upon arrival by officers. From what they've told me it was a very graphic scene. We as police officers tend to see a lot of dead bodies by the very nature of what we do. In my time as a police officer I have definitely seen my fair share. When an officer says a body is horrible it is clearly so. My heart goes out to the driver who had no fault in the accident who now has to live with that moment etched in her memory.
Around 1145pm, my squad plus one New Year's Eve ride along (would have been an amazing day for a ride along) parked ourselves underneath a highway overpass and counted down to the New Year. As always, right at midnight the skies opened up with shots fired. Just around the corner from where we were was an apartment complex. There were people firing shots JUST within the entrance to that complex. The shots were so loud they scared this beautiful dog underneath the overpass who came to hide among us. It was an interesting sight amidst the chaos. Shortly after, it was time to go home.
2015 is upon us and a new year begins. I just want to close with remembering the 118 law enforcement officers and the 20 K9's who died in the line of duty in 2014. I would love to see that number be zero in the next year but by the very nature of the job we do that will not be the case. Hopefully we can significantly reduce that number by doing the things we can control.
I made it a point to try and not let a nearby officer go to a call alone if I couldn't help it. I'll be honest in the fact that every time I answered a shots fired call in a large apartment complex I had my service weapon unholstered, my seatbelt off, and the windows down. Ready to act at a moment's notice.
I never will understand the concept of celebratory gunfire. Everything that goes up must come down. A bullet coming down will come down with enough force to be comparable as if fired normally at a target. (side note: just after I got off work an elderly lady sitting in her living room was struck by a falling bullet which fell through her ceiling-thankfully just a shot to her leg but horrible nonetheless).
With all of the shots fired and fireworks calls coming in, a lot of house alarms were going off. My beat partner and I answered a high priority panic alarm call at a residence. We get there and everything seems very normal. Car in the driveway, lights on in the house, no shouting or anything which may bring alarm. We ring the doorbell and knock on the door and nonchalantly the resident's daughter states her mother's boyfriend accidentally hit the panic alarm button and he walks down the stairs just casually brushing his teeth. We normally get canceled for false alarms before we get to the houses. This would have been one to have been canceled so we could have attended to greater things.
Now as I've said before the zone where I work in divided into the North and South sectors handled by two difference squads. The north sector had a particularly horrible tragedy they dealt with. A lady was driving home from church when a man jaywalking crossed the street and she could not brake in time. The man was clearly dead upon arrival by officers. From what they've told me it was a very graphic scene. We as police officers tend to see a lot of dead bodies by the very nature of what we do. In my time as a police officer I have definitely seen my fair share. When an officer says a body is horrible it is clearly so. My heart goes out to the driver who had no fault in the accident who now has to live with that moment etched in her memory.
Around 1145pm, my squad plus one New Year's Eve ride along (would have been an amazing day for a ride along) parked ourselves underneath a highway overpass and counted down to the New Year. As always, right at midnight the skies opened up with shots fired. Just around the corner from where we were was an apartment complex. There were people firing shots JUST within the entrance to that complex. The shots were so loud they scared this beautiful dog underneath the overpass who came to hide among us. It was an interesting sight amidst the chaos. Shortly after, it was time to go home.
2015 is upon us and a new year begins. I just want to close with remembering the 118 law enforcement officers and the 20 K9's who died in the line of duty in 2014. I would love to see that number be zero in the next year but by the very nature of the job we do that will not be the case. Hopefully we can significantly reduce that number by doing the things we can control.
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